Left Handed Wiki
Welcome to the Left Handed Wiki! This site is is about everything and everyone left-handed. It explores the subject of handedness, and what it means in the realms of writing, art, and society. Anyone and everyone is free to contribute -- just remember to add sources! Overview About 10-15% of the population is left-handed. Why is this so? Genetically, it's likely due to a gene called NRH ("non-right-handed") which has a 50% chance of making people left-handedHuman Handedness and Scalp Hair-Whorl Direction Develop From a Common Genetic Mechanism (and also has a 50% chance of making your hair spiral counterclockwise!) There has been a lot of interesting research on handedness in the last decade. Left-handers' brains are structured differently from right-handers' in ways that can allow them to process language, spatial relations and emotions in more diverse and potentially creative ways. Also, a slightly larger number of left-handers than right-handers are especially gifted in music and mathIs It True That Left-Handed People Are Smarter Than Right-Handed People? (Scientific American). It's believed that these abilities are due to increased communication between the brain hemispheres, and the ability to use both sides of the brain at once when processing stimlui.Effects of handedness and gender on macro- and microstructure of the corpus callosum and its subregions: a combined high-resolution and diffusion-tensor MRI study You may be surprised at how many famous people are left-handed! Fun Facts!Being Left-Handed Is Not That Bad (unverified) * According to Scientific American, 15% of people are left handed. Males are twice as likely to be left-handed as females. * Left-handers are more likely to be geniuses - 20% of all MENSA members report being left-handed. * A study found left-handed men are, on average, 15% richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26% richer if they graduated. * Left-handed people are three times more likely than right-handed people to become alcoholics. * If both parents are left handed, 50% of their offspring will be left-handed. Two righties only have a 2% chance of having a lefty. * Psychologists from Queen's University Belfast found that female cats are more likely to be right-pawed, while male cats tend to be left-pawed. * Lefties are more likely than righties to really, really hate spiral notebooks. * Research conducted by Dr.Nick Cherbuin shows that lefties are better at handling large amounts of stimuli, making them naturally better at playing video games. * Statistically, the older a mother is, the more likely she is to give birth to left-handed children. * Left-handers are believed to reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers. * Living in a righty's world: only 50% of lefties report using a computer mouse with their left hands. Similarly, 68% use their right hand for scissors and 74% hold a dinner knife in their right hands. * Defying the odds: 4 of the 5 original designers of the Mac computer were left-handed. Of the last 5 presidents, 3 are left handed (Obama, Clinton, Bush Sr.). Stigma A lot of silly people throughout history have thought that left handedness was a demonic curse or learning disability that must be corrected or something. What a bunch of silly-heads! Handedness Score Edinburgh University created a Laterality Index which measures the handedness of inventory subjects. (You can try the quiz yourself, if you like.) It's based on a paper from 1971. Collections * Famous left handers * Research * Experiences * Miscellaneous Pages * Books References Category:Browse